Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time


Submit Your Best/Worst Reads of CBR17 by Saturday 12/13  

These Were Darker Than I Expected Them to Be

The Lies of the Ajungo by Moses Ose Utomi

The Truth of the Aleke by Moses Ose Utomi

The Memory of the Ogisi by Moses Ose Utomi

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These 3 books comprise the Forever Desert trilogy. Each takes place 500 years after the previous, and while I think they can be read independently of each other (the acknowledgements in the 2nd book imply that), I would recommend reading them in order. The novellas play around with truth and how it’s distorted by history, and by reading all 3 in order, readers will have an overview of events that the characters don’t have. It makes for an interesting reading experience. And all 3 books together makes […]

It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over

It Lasts Forever and Then It's Over by Anne de Marcken

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I just read a zombie book, and then I read a Last Man On Earth type of book, and I also read one about the Klan. This one came available in my library holds, so I checked it out and then I realized on page 1 that this was ALSO an apocalypse book and I was like, ugh, I don’t really want another apocalypse book right now, I kind of want a change of tone like maybe a romance? But I read it anyway.  This […]

a pre-Covid novella that I thought was post-Covid

Severance by Ling Ma

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It is to Ling Ma’s credit that it wasn’t until about 1/3 way through this novella — which is about  a disease that originates in China, flattens New York, and a millennial who sticks with her corporate employer until the absolute last moment that society exists — that I realized it was written before Covid. For prescience alone, I want to give it 4 stars.  This is essentially a zombie story set during the Obama years. Our protagonist Candace is our first generation immigrant who […]

Just give me all the Claire Keegan

Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan

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I read this several months ago but it has stuck with me. A short and almost circumspect meditation on the difference that our choices make, and bravery in those choices.  The setting is Ireland in 1985, in the weeks leading up to Christmas (making it a very timely read for RIGHT NOW, if you are looking for something!) Bill Furlong is a hard working a coal merchant and devoted to his family. While delivering an order to a convent, Bill discovers something  – a secret […]

A small book about enormous things

Eastbound by Maylis De Kerangal

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Aliocha, a Russian conscript, is on a the Trans-Siberian railroad headed to his post. He, you will not be surprised to learn, does not want to go to Siberia. In his efforts to escape, defect, disappear, he meets meets Hélène, a French woman who is also trying to leave Russia. In a mere 137 pages, you witness their inner and outer worlds collide as they become accomplices despite the vast differences in age, language, and experience.  This is a short book — I read it […]

I Bought into Amazon’s Author Exploitation Again

Under the Mistletoe: Cruel Winter with You by Ali Hazelwood

Under the Mistletoe: Merry Ever After by Tessa Bailey

Under the Mistletoe: All by My Elf by Olivia Dade

Under the Mistletoe: Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur

Under the Mistletoe: Only Santas in the Building by Alexis Daria

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I mean, I assume it’s exploitive. It is Amazon. Having had some success with the Improbable Meet Cute collection for Valentines  Day, and, as someone who absolutely loves a Christmas novella, I paid for one (the Ali Hazelwood) and borrowed the other four of these Under the Mistletoe “get to know a romance author with a  free read” stories. I imagine Amazon is doing the same thing as telling someone to work for free for the exposure. I hope they were compensated in some way. […]



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